There are online biographies of him here and here. The more comprehensive Oxford Dictionary of National Biography life by Emma Mason is available here.
St Wulstan was a fine pastor and was to be the only pre-Conquest bishop to retain his see until his death a generation after the Conquest. He worked with King William I and entered into the spirit of the reforms carried out under Archbishop Lanfranc.
Like his Norman contemporaries he rebuilt hios cathedral, and his biographer records how the bishop wept to see the old cathedral with all its associations being demolished whilst still rejoicing that a new and more splendid cathedral was to take its place. Of that cathedral only the beautiful crypt survives beneath the later medieval rebuilding. The restoration some years ago made it a wonderful place to visit and pray in.
St Wulfstan's Crypt at Worcester Cathedral
Photo:Paradox Place.com
Photo:Paradox Place.com
Which leads me to share a thought. St Wulfstan's reaction to the rebuilding can be seen as analogy forthe situation facing Anglo-Catholics contemplating the Ordinariate. Memories of past glories and times should not blind one to the wonderful possibilities of a new structures and all that they can bring.
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